Chapter Three
The Perfect Start to an Absolutely Wonderful Day (Yeah Right.)
"Do you think they'll excuse us from class today?"
"I have no idea."
"We should be…I mean, Dumbledore will understand. You know he will."
"Yeah. For Remus."
"I can take care of her just fine—"
"I didn't say you couldn't! Hell, I know you can! I was just saying—"
"Gods, how many times am I gonna say this to you guys? Shut-up!" I yelled. "You guys are giving me a damn headache and Merlin knows I don't need two of those in one day."
Everyone looked down at me happily, ignoring my common morning-after outburst.
"You're alive!" James cheered.
"Yeah, well you won't be in a second if you keep up your damn yelling," I muttered.
"What? You mean you didn't believe me?" Lily demanded.
"No, he was saying you're not at all trustworthy. There is a teeny tiny slight difference, but not really, so basically, yeah. You're right," Sirius said sweetly.
"Okay, okay!" I yelled, cutting off Lily and Sirius' all too normal argument. "You guys can go to class now. I'm fine." Nobody argued or tried to "make sure" that I was alright, they just told me bye and left.
I turned to Remus. "How'd we get here?" I took in my surroundings and found that I was in their dorm in Sirius' bed.
"You did it Eridani…"
"Yeah, I highly doubt I in my moonlight state was able to get us all here before sunrise," I scoffed.
"That's not what I mean. You healed all of us at once," Remus said, a smile lighting up his pale features.
"And I passed out," I added in a bored tone.
"Yeah, but only for a few hours! That's even less then when you heal only me!" Remus was ecstatic.
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
"That's amazing! How did it happen?"
"I was hoping you could answer that."
I settled down some and thought, trying to remember if anything had been different at that moment or during the day.
"I don't know," I said finally, coming up empty-handed.
Remus nodded in understanding. "You have the whole day to think about it."
"Where do you think you're going?" I asked as he made for the door.
He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled. "Thanks to you I feel well enough to go to classes. Although Padfoot and Prongs weren't happy about that part." Remus was the only one I knew, besides for Lily, who would not not go to classes if he had the option.
"Did you honestly expect them to be?"
"Not in the least," he smirked.
"Hey Remus?" I asked. "How did Lily take it? Did you tell her the truth?"
"She, uh, already knew. She knew before Prongs and Padfoot actually," he said quietly. "She just never said anything."
"She's great. If Prongs doesn't marry her someday in the near future, I want you to, you got it mate?"
He laughed heartily. "Prongs would have my neck."
"And Lily would have his, so it's a win/win situation, am I right or am I right?"
"Behave Sozo. I'll see you at lunch."
"Bye-bye Remy! I wuv you!"
I heard his laugh as he made his way down the stairs.
Five minutes later I was bored out of my mind. I'd cleaned their room so I could find their prank stuff, which I'd hid, and I'd even used their stuff to set up some traps for them when they came in tonight exhausted. But I was an expert at this stuff, so it only took me five minutes. Ugh. So I made my way downstairs after I'd changed my clothes and left the common room.
Hogwarts was a huge place filled with tons of things to do, but after six years here I'd done everything there was to do. I didn't usually mind doing something over again, but right now nothing appealed to me, not even setting up pranks or going someplace else via the secret passageways.
"So, Zo, you done passing out like a little girly-girl?"
"Good morning Peevesie," I said, not even bothering to second guess myself.
We Marauders always knew Peeves' voice, and unlike everyone else in this school, we got along fairly well with him when we all weren't competing for the top troublemakers' spot in the whole school. He was our greatest ally in causing trouble. I'd even given him a pet name, "Peevesie", and he'd always started saying "So, Zo," in the first sentence he'd say whenever he saw me. He hated it whenever anyone else called him "Peevesie" though, and he'd let them know it too. Not even the other Marauders were allowed. Just me. As you could see, we got along just fine.
"You very late last night coming in," he said, floating along beside me.
"Yeah. We decided to kick off the school year by jumping off the train, hijacking a motorcycle, putting a charm on in, and flying super-fast back to this charming little school."
"I didn't see or hear no motorcycle last night," Peeves said, thinking. I could practically hear the gears in his little ghosty-brain turning.
"That's 'cause we hid it."
"Oooo! It is my job to find where, now!" And with that he floated away, looking for Sirius' flying motorcycle that was currently parked at the Potters' house. He'd give his search up in a few days when he got bored with his task.
I went outside and wandered around the castle, singing softly to myself a song that I'd just recently thought of. I had to get my vocal chords warmed up for tonight, after all.
"'I was so high I did not recognize, The fire burnin in his eyes, The chaos that controlled my mind
"'Whispered goodbye and he got on a plane, Never to return again, But always in my heart
"'Oh!
"'This love has taken its toll on me, He said goodbye, Too many times before
"'And his heart is breakin in front of me, But I have no choice, 'Cause I won't say goodbye anymore, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa
"'I tried my best to feed his appetite—' "
I quit singing and glanced around me. Something wasn't right.
Someone chuckled behind me. I knew that hated laugh anywhere. My day was just about to go bad.
I whirled around and came face to face with Lucius Malfoy. And not far, as always, was my cousin and his girlfriend, Narcissa, and her sister, the one who I hated most, Bellatrix.
"You should be in class," I said coolly to my, although I hated to say it aloud, fellow Slytherins. I hated being part of their House, especially since I earned them House Points when I earned them for my other Houses. The only good part was I ended up taking points from their House often.
"And since when are you a Prefect?" Bellatrix questioned, smiling cruelly. Eight more Slytherins appeared in a circle around me, blocking any means of escape.
"Oh, someone's gotten mouthy over the summer," Malfoy said while the rest of his group snickered. He stepped closer to me, crossing my personal-space boundary.
"Back off you bastard," I snapped, shoving him.
He stumbled back into Bellatrix and they both cursed as they ended up on the ground.
"Your damn Gryffindors," Bellatrix spat. "Of course you of all people would choose that screwed-up House."
"You could've been different, yet those mudbloods and that blood-traitor you hang out with ruined you," Malfoy growled. "Maybe we can change your mind."
"Lucius—"
"Shut-up Severus," Malfoy and I snapped at the same time.
"I don't want sympathy. Especially not yours," I spat.
"Sozo, I—"
"Leave me alone!" I yelled. "You betrayed her! You hurt her Sev! Sirius and James were right all along about you!" I lunged at him, ready to take revenge for Lily, but I instantly fell, bowed down, at his feet when Lucius said,
"Imperio."
"Don't ever talk to a pureblood like that," Bellatrix hissed, eyes wild and mocking.
I laughed, something Sirius and I both did in bad or unbelievable situations to either ourselves or those we knew were in. We sounded completely mad.
"Him? A pureblood?" I laughed again, even harder when Severus gave me a pleading look. "He's nothing but a worthless, self-indulgent, heartless halfblood."
"Enough!" Malfoy yelled, lifting his wand, bringing me staggeringly to my feet.
Bellatrix's sneer grew. "Rumor has it that you're the best of us all," she said casually. "You're so good that you're already out of Hogwarts training and you're an Auror, doing undercover work. Here."
I barked out another mad laugh. "You've got to be kidding me!"
She of all people should have known that was a complete lie. I knew she and Narcissa very well knew the truth that my family knew about me, but they liked to be the ones who seemed like they knew something that everyone else didn't about me. They were the only Slytherins, along with Regulus, that knew that I was a Squib. The rest of our relatives didn't know that I existed because Mum and Dad had done a damn well good job of making it look like I didn't exist anymore. Everyone else in the family thought I was dead, that I had drowned when I was four.
But none of them dared to let lose the word that I was a part of the Black family because they would be severely punished. Our parents didn't want it known that there were two "screw-ups" in the "pure" and "perfect" and "noble" family.
Malfoy flicked his wand to the left and I flew into one of the stone walls, banging my head hard.
"So…why don't you fight back?" Bellatrix asked, taunting, daring me to answer.
"She's a coward," Narcissa said quietly, afraid.
"No one asked for your input," I growled.
Bellatrix growled and was reaching for her wand to curse me when Regulus walked by.
"Sorry I'm late but—" He took in the situation just as Bellatrix hissed,
"Crucio!"
"What the hell are you doing?" Reg yelled, eyes full of fear for the slightest second.
I was completely engulfed in pain, the same almost unbearable pain that I felt every night that I no matter what could never get used to, no matter how hard I tried.
But despite that, I wasn't going to give these idiotic gits what they wanted, which was to see and hear me in the pain they so willingly wanted to give me every week. You'd think they'd get the hint when they never, ever got it.
"That's a bit unnecessary Bella," Regulus said, not exactly coldly, but not in the least bit warm.
"Why?" Malfoy demanded.
Bellatrix just narrowed her eyes at Reg while Narcissa looked at him calculatingly. They both knew, as did Sirius and I, that Regulus still cared for me, despite what had happened all those years ago. We had been a family, Sirius, Regulus, and I, but when he'd turned in to one of them, Sirius went berserk and they'd had a huge fight. They hated each other now, with me stuck and torn right in the middle. I'd never thought it was Regulus' fault that he'd turned out the way he had, I thought it was mine, as well as our parents. Our parents had been there to raise him instead of me, and that hadn't helped him. I knew that he could change; it was just a matter of how and when.
"Because it'll attract attention," Regulus said smoothly. He'd learned to keep his cool and how to lie smoothly from the best. Namely Sirius and I.
"Why don't we just kill the bitch and get it over with?" one of Malfoy's friends whose last name was Goyle, said.
"I'll do it myself!" Bellatrix offered, agreeing wholeheartedly. We'd never liked each other, even before the whole mess started.
Regulus stiffened, but backed down. He might have still been loyal to me, but he was still way more loyal to his leader, Lord Voldermort. I saw the same in Severus, even though he looked sick, whereas Reg knew how to conceal his emotions.
Bellatrix grinned cruelly, raised her wand and pointed it directly at my heart, and said,
"Avada Kedav—"
"Hey!" a man yelled furiously, cutting the rest of Bella's spell off, saving my life.
Everyone glanced over to the figure, and I groaned. There stood my savior, who just yesterday wanted to take my life, but was now saving it.
Rider stood tall, collected, and as handsome as ever. Yet, he was livid.
"Just who do you think you are?" Crabbe, another one of Malfoy's cronies demanded.
Rider's eyes flew to him, eyes full of anger. "One who happens to have a hell of a lot more authority then you, you nitwit."
Crabbe's jaw clenched, and he reached for his wand. Bellatrix stopped him with a joyous laugh.
"Flynn Rider!" she yelled, face alight. She also had a lusty look in her eyes as she looked him over. The Slytherins all stood frozen, and then, as if he were Voldermort himself, bowed down at his feet. Malfoy, who I was still under his Imperious Curse, made me bow down, my face in the dirt.
"What the hell were you doing?" he growled.
Bellatrix looked up and smiled seductively. "Keeping order here, sir."
"By killing her? How exactly is that 'keeping order'?" he demanded.
"You don't know her, sir," Malfoy spat. "She's our kind's worst enemy. We'd be better off without her. She'd only help Dumbledore with his pathetic attempts to defeat the Dark Lord."
"Dumbledore's attempts aren't 'pathetic'," I spat. "They're not even attempts. When he decides to make a move, he'll defeat him once and for all. He's far wiser and more powerful than that bastard you call a lord. Voldermort. My gods, his original name was far better than Voldermort. All he's doing is striving for the attention he never had as a child. All he is is a man who is stuck in the abuse of his childhood. He just needs to move on and get on with his sorry life."
There were several gasps, and I felt myself lift into the air and slam against the wall again. I sucked in a silent breath as my back connected with the stone.
"You dare speak his name!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare to insult him! You dare speak in front of Master Flynn Rider!"
I managed to roll my eyes. Yet that wasn't enough. I burst out in my signature mad laughter.
Sev and Reg exchanged worried glances, but did nothing. As for the rest of them, their disgusted looks turned to heated anger. And because I loved to tick people off, I laughed even harder and louder.
"Leave her be," I heard Rider's voice through my madness. "I have things planned for her." I knew he was speaking directly to Bellatrix next. "Don't ever use the Killing Curse on her. It is my job to dispose of her. And you will leave it to me, unless you dare doubt my abilities?"
Bellatrix took a step back, and her eyes hardened. Yet she dared not argue with Voldermort's right-hand man. She nodded, and then stalked off. Narcissa followed her immediately, dragging Malfoy with her. The rest of the Slytherins walked off, and all that was left was Reg, Sev, and Rider, who were all staring at me.
I glared at Regulus and Severus. "Get out of here, you good-for-nothing twits," I growled.
Regulus started to protest, but I stood up quickly, ignoring the pain from my body, and clenched my fists.
I saw fear cross his and Severus' faces, and they took off running, not looking back. No one wanted to fight with me, unless they had me very outnumbered. They feared my wrath, and then the later wrath of my fellow Marauders and hot-headed best friend.
"You're an interesting piece of work, Brochevska."
I whirled around to see Rider leaning against the brick wall with his arms crossed over his chest. I didn't see a haze around him, so I knew he hadn't consumed Polyjuice potion today. Yet.
"Dangerous, is it not, for you to be wandering around without your cowardly disguise?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Oh trust me, I'm not. I'm praying to Merlin that you'll get caught and executed."
"Keep dreaming. It's not going to happen."
"Oh, yes it will. I know it will."
"So that's your special talent? You're a Seer?"
"Even if I was I wouldn't confide in the likes of you."
"Next time I'll think twice about saving your ass."
"The only reason you saved it is because you want it."
He smirked. "Not entirely. I don't want you. The Dark Lord, however, does."
"And why is that?"
"I will not tell you. Not until no one will ever see you again."
"Stay away from me before I get pissed off."
I turned on my heel and stalked off to the sound of his cruel, sadistic laughter.
A/N: Slowly but surely, I am getting somewhere. I kinda liked this chapter, I mean, I love all the evil peoples coming together and trying to crack old Eridani. And Reg and Sev? Ha. I love em when it comes to the original Marauders' Era. What did you guys think?
Real quick, in my last author's note, I for some odd reason deleted your name with a ?mark when I was thanking you for your review, so I'm sorry firefly287. And a couple more thank yous for reviews: thanks
Okay, so the next chapter might take awhile to come up because I'm having some difficulties…and so I'm going to ask for some help. If any of you know any fast paced dance moves and how to put em in words, pretty please let me know so I can get your help! Or, since I have something but I'm not sure how I like it, would one of you kinda let me know if I can let you know what I did so you can see if it needs improvement before I publicize it to everyone and make it seem so bad all of you will quit reading? Did any of that even make sense to you guys? No? Huh. That's normal for me. My point is, when I finally get the next chapter up, if you hate it, please don't stop reading the story just because I suck at writing down dance moves. It's much easier just to dance em out, if you ask me.
With all of that mess out of the way, please review! I'll get back to you guys as soon as I can!
Nike
